Actress Jang Ja Yeon committed suicide back in 2009, and it caused a gigantic controversy at the time, not only because of her death but also because she left an alleged suicide note that implicated dozens of powerful men she was allegedly forced to provide sexual favors for against her will. Out of everything that was revealed, only two people faced consequences: her agency CEO for assault and embezzlement and her manager for defamation. As you can imagine, many felt at the time the conclusion lacked justice and that the others were being protected.
Nine years later, with the emergence of the Me Too movement, there were renewed calls for the case to be looked into. An independent Justice Ministry panel agreed, and it recommended the prosecution take another look at the case.
The actress’ case, also known as the “Jang Ja-yeon list,” and four others were singled out on Monday by the committee under the Justice Ministry as meriting a fresh review by the prosecution.
While I’m glad this is getting another look, I’m definitely skeptical that anything will change. More than anything, it seems like this is happening just so that they can pretend to give a shit. I genuinely hope to be wrong, but after following the case when it broke and thinking it would be a watershed moment for the industry, it’s hard to be optimistic now.